Reenforcing structure in buildings



Dec. 3, 1935. P. BUZZONI I REENFORCING STRUCTURE IN BUILDINGS I FiledAug. 3, 1953 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Dec. 3, 193 5. V BUZZON] 2,022,950

REENFORCING STRUCTURE IN BUILDINGS Filed Aug. 3, 1933 4 Sheets-Sheet 2Dec. 3,' 1935. v

P. BUZZONI REENFORCING STRUCTURE IN BUILDINGS Filed Aug. 3, 1933 4Sheets-Sheet 3 Dec. 3, 1935; P. BUZZONI REENFORCING STRUCTURE INBUILDINGS Filed Aug. 3, 1933 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Dec. 3, 1935UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE Paride Buzzoni, Rome, Italy, assignor toSoc. An. Commercio Industria Edili, S. A. C. I. E., Rome,

Italy Application August a, 1933, Serial No. 683,543 In Italy August 4,1932 4 Claims.

In the modern practice of building or restoring old structures, thefollowing problems are frequently to be solved: securing stability alsoagainst sismic action in house building or in any other masonry work;reenforcement of existing masonry works erected without regard to sismicaction in order to make them resistant against same; consolidation ofthe foundations of masonry walls in order to check or to prevent thesettlement or sliding of these or to allow superelevation or higherloads; putting in girders or beams to reenforce ceilings, vaults ordomes in old or new buildings; restoring any kind of masonry work inorder to reenforce it, so as to allow a high load or great openings;conservation of old and staggering masonry structures of historical orartistical interest, and so on.

The various systems hitherto employed for the solution of theseconstruction problems showed in practice a great number ofinconveniences and sometimes were quite irrational, especially as, inview of obtaining a full warranty of stability at present not reached ina convenient manner, the usual structures have been completely abandonednotwithstanding their experienced advantages from technical, economicaland hygienic standpoints.

Thus, for instance, in the construction of antisismic buildings, havinga supporting cage in reenforced concrete of the usual type (withvertical struts and horizontal booms of a full rectangular section,forming together large bays or meshes, horizontally connected by theceilings of reenforced concrete), this cage alone having to ensure thegeneral resistance of the building, the vertical bays are usually filledwith wall structures of the lightest kind, as they have only to separateone room from the, other. Such a structure has all the inconveniences ofthin walls, such as insufficient protection against heat, cold, moistureand sound, and is not apt to take up any shock. On the other hand, insuch a system of supporting cage the masonry work being excluded fromany participation in the totalresistance of the building, forms only adead weight, or, what is worse, it increases the shocks against theskeleton of the building, so as to require a supporting cage ofexcessive proportions if ordinary walls should be used to fill the bays.

Concerning the safety, it must be observed that the system of a cagedoes not afford sufficient protection, as the walls are badly connectedwith the girders and the struts, especially on the upper side of thewalls, a settlement being unavoidable in these. This system is quiteinappropriate for the purpose of antisismic consolidation of existingbuildings executed in normal masonry, as it is difiicult, or evenimpossible, 5 to insert the usual supporting cage in the wall structurewithout disconnecting it by cutting it into independent fields.

One comes to similar conclusions on examining the various other systemsof antisismic 10 building hitherto proposed, as, for instance, a systemhaving a non-supporting cage, either in iron, reenforced concrete oreven wood, as these cages connect only common masonry or special masonryin little blocks of artificial stone or in 15 hollow brickwork.

In a general way, it may be said that none of the systems alreadyproposed corresponds perfectly to its purpose, as the antisismicbuildings should olfer, together with the special guarantee 20 ofstability, also any normal guarantee of hygiene and long duration, ofgood cohesion between walls and supporting cage, of a high insulatingpower against heat, cold, humidity and sound, and of adaptability toeventual modifications and rebuilding. All these guarantees would beobtained only if the antisismic structure syste'ms would satisfy to theconditions of adaptability to the normal masonry structures.

On the contrary, the reenforcing structure, ac- 3O cording to theinvention, is of a universal, easy and cheap application adapted to thereenforcement of normal as well as of any other masonry work of old ornew structure.

Moreover, it fully solves all the problems of modern building mentionedin the introduction, and particularly of antisismic bu-ilding,'andconsists essentially in the formation of booms or reenforcing ribs solidwith the masonry or independent from it, adapted to bring to the desireddegree of security the insufiicient resistance of any masonry structure.

The reenforcing structure which forms the object'of the presentspecification is essentially formed by a girder, or rib, having asection, which is partially, i. e. at intervals, hollow in proximity ofits axis of symmetry, and which may becomposed of two or more principalelements or flanks, connected at intervals by secondary transversalelements or joints rigidly connecting the two flanks.

Relative to the masonry structure, the girder is so executed that thetwo flanks applied on the two sides of the masonry are rigidly connectedby the joints which are applied across the masonry.

Any material is more or less suitable to form this supporting orreenforcing structure, such as iron, reenforced concrete, and even wood;and

' porting cage and masonry work, solid or, if necessary, independent onefrom the other.

With a certain number of these girders, connected together in aconvenient manner, it is possible to form in the inside of any masonrywork a real reenforcing woof, which, if it is proportioned by form anddimension to the peculiar scope, will ensure a perfect stability tothese masonry works.

In contradistinction to the aforesaid known systems of antisismicsupporting structures have ing a supporting cage of full sectiondividing the full or hollow masonry work in single bays or fields andnot representing a complete solution of the problems of antisismicbuilding, the reenforcing structure type according to the invention isbased on the principle of using a PBIfO-r rated supporting structuretraversed by fullmasonry work, and abandons the old principle of a plainsupporting structure, filled by hollow walls. The new system has usefulapplications in new as well as in old buildings of ordinary masonrystructure. Its application is also use? ful in restoring works, in thesuperelevation and consolidation of buildings and particularly inantisismic buildings, and ensures a perfect inser-,

tion of the masonry in the supporting structure with the advantage ofmaintaining the continuity of the masonry work and of utilizingitsimportant contribution to. the stability of same Without the necessityof supporting its weight, which, naturally, is discharged on thefoundations. W

In practice, the type of the reenforcing cage may be realized outside orinside the existing masonry work by using various proceedings, ac.-,cording to the problems to be solved.

In the annexed drawings are demonstrated some of these methods appliedto the solution of certain cases often occurring in the practice of.

modern building.

Fig. l is a perspective detail showing the use of a beam forstrengthening a wall with the flanks of the beam embedded in the wall,

Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof,

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the flanks of the beam or strut anchoredagainst the outside of the wall,

Fig. 4 is a perspective detail of the arrangement shown in Fig. 3,

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a slightly modified form in which thewall is reenforced by a girder, the flanks of which are disposedexteriorly of the wall,

Fig. 6 is a perspective detail of a slightly modified arrangement of aninterconnected beam and girder,

Fig. 7 is a perspective detail showing the connection between the twogirders,

Fig. 8 is a top plan detail of the invention as applied to an L-shapedwall,

Fig. 9 isa top plan detail of a modification of the arrangement asapplied to cross walls,

Fig. '10 is a similar view showing an application of the invention to aWall of T-shaped formation, 5

Fig. 11 is a perspective view showing the invention applied to a crossWall formation with the flanks of the beams or struts anchored againstthe outer surface of the wall,

Fig. 12 is a top plan view of the arrangement shown in Fig. 11,

Fig. 13 is an elevational detail of a further modification of theinvention,

Fig. 14 is a perspective detail of a further modification constructed inthe form of a cage, 15

Figs. 15, 16 and 1'? show top plan views of further modified forms ofthe invention in which flanks of the beams or struts are imbedded on oneside wall and anchored exteriorly of the other side wall, 20

Figs. 18 to 22 inclusive are perspective views of modified forms ofjoints,

Figs. 23 to 26 inclusive are perspective views of iron joints,

Fig. 27 is a perspective view of a part of the wall in which thereenforcement includes iron flanks,

Fig. 28 is a perspective view of a wall with iron flanks ofchannel-shaped formation imbedded therein,

Fig. 29 is a. perspective view of a further form of the invention,

Fig. 30 is a perspective view of the ceiling re;- enforcement,

. Fig. 31 is a perspective view showing the in- 35 vention applied tofoundation plates for buildings,

Fig. 32 is a perspective view showing the in,- vention applied to asuperelevation on an old building, 4o

enforcement applied about the doorway of a 15 building,

Fig. 36 is a perspective view showing a further modification of theinvention applied to a wall,

Fig. 37 is a perspective view showing a modification of the inventionapplied to the ceiling and floor structure, and

Fig. 38 is a perspective vie Showing a further modification as appliedto a wall structure.

As it is evident from the drawings, the two flanks f and f of the beamT, which are applied to the two faces of the wall P, are connected theone to the other at certain intervals, the length of which will bedetermined according to any specific case, by the joints 9, alsoreenforced, which render the flanks solidar-y between themselves.

The total section of the beam is in this Way comparable with the sectionof a common pile of rectangular section, in which a number of trans:versal holes has been made to allow the masonry to traverse the pile. V

In the Fig. 2 the flanks and f are completely embedded in the masonry,in other cases, as shown in Fig. 3 they may be also disposed par-.tially ortotally outside the masonry work. 7

The typical structure of a reenforcing cage, according to the invention,is such that vertical struts M or horizontal girders, C may beegrecutedin new buildings together with the masonry itself In this case it isconvenient to prepare outside 76 the building yard only the reenforcedjoints and to insert them into the masonry during the proceeding ofsame, in the place of the common masonry material, at the desiredintervals, as is shown in Fig. 4.

In this case, the extent of wall P, under notice, will show, whenfinished, a series of joints g which form part of the masonry but havetheir extremities free of their iron reenforcement, allowing theirconnection with the reenforcing irons of the flanks ,f and whichcomplete the flanks and the strut M, when they have been embedded in alayer of concrete.

With a quite similar method the horizontal girder C is executed and inthis case the joints 9 Will be introduced into the masonryincorrespondence to a horizontal layer and disposed on edge. Afterwards,their reenforcing irons will be connected with the horizontal andlongitudinal irons for the formation of the flanks f and f necessary tocomplete the girder C.

These girders may also be executed with the flanks wholly or partiallyembedded in the wall or totally outside of the masonry.

The execution of a complex of beams or struts and girders may give asystem of rectangular meshes or bays which forms a cage for antisismicbuildings.

The union of a strut M with a girder C or the union of two girders, Cand C is shown as an example in the Figures 6 and '7.

This union may be realized in correspondence to the joints, or forincreased security, the girders may be of full section near their pointof union.

Corresponding to the meeting of the walls in form of L, T or in crossform, not always the elevation of a vertical strut is necessary in thereenforcing structure according to the invention, but if they areadopted they may be executed with flanks of only one or of more elementsoutside or inside the masonry, as demonstrated by Figures 8 and 13.

The flanks beside the executions as shown, wholly or partially embeddedin the masonry work or outside of it, may also assume different forms,such as U or T, polygonal, curved or columnar form (see Figs. 15, 16 and17), solving at the same same static as Well as aesthetic problems.

The joints also, beside the normal parallelepipedic form, may assumevarious other forms as a conical or a dowel form and so forth. They maybe disposed in one or in more directions or alternated in two senses asshown in the Figures 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22.

For masonry work of small height, the system may be applied in asimplified form, reducing the joints and the flanks to the ironreenforcement only, thus forming a kind of reenforced masonry work asshown on Fig. 27.

In this case, the armature of the joints must be fixed with cementmortar to the masonry structure and in analogy the iron reenforcement ofthe flanks must be embedded in the 65mm mortar after having beenconnected with the transversal reenforcements of the joints.

In order to justify the denomination of iron reenforcing structure forthis system, it is necessary that all its elements be executed in irononly, as is shown on Fig. 28, in which the flanks of the beams areformed by two flat irons or by a U-iron.

In this type of a cage-structure the connections between the flanks andthe joints must be very accurate and all the elements of the cageprotected and fixed with fine mortar in order to avoid the formation ofrust.

The different types of joints in iron alone, of which the Figures 23-26reproduce a few samples, may also be applied in the execution of the 5reenforcing structures in concrete, as it has been described, thusgiving origin to a series of intermediate types in mixed material, inwhich the section, the form and the composition of the flanks and of thejoints as well as the kind of 10 connection, may vary and be combined inthe best convenient manner.

The Fig. 29 shows how in a reenforcing structure in reenforced concretefor strengthening new antisismic buildings, a ceiling S in reinforcedcon- 15 crete may be connected by its small girders with the inner sideof the main girders C and C The Fig. 30 shows the application of thestructure, according to the invention, to the reenforcing of oldbuildings in the zone corresponding to 20 the common ceiling in iron,and vaults or slabs.

The Fig. 31 gives a sample of the application of the structure to afoundation plate for buildings. It shows how it may form a plan offoundation and contribute to the distribution of pres- 25 sure, when theflanks and f are conveniently enlarged, for instance in the form of L,with or without reenforcing ribs.

In this application the joints g have, as it is evident, a differentfunction, as they represent, 30 besides their normal function ofconnecting and reenforcing the flanks, the means for the transmission ofload to the flanks themselves, as it happens in any supporting beam.

The greatest advantage and the characteristi- 5 cal feature of thereenforcing structure, according to the invention, consist in the factthat the structure is adapted to the reenforcement of old buildings innormal masonry and, in a general line, to the strengthening of all theworks which 40 must be restored, consolidated and superelevated;particularly if the said building has been originally erected withoutregard to antisismic resistance and is now to be transformed in abuilding of exceptional stability, as required by 45 the rules ofantisismic construction.

The reenforcing construction, according to the invention offers theseadvantages as the beams or girders composing same may be formedgradually by placing first the joints and executing 50 the flanksafterwards.

It will indeed be suflicient, in the cases of consolidation, to open incorrespondence with the vertical struts or with the horizontal girders,to be constructed, the holes necessary for introduc- 55 ing the jointsin the masonry work of the foundations, walls, vaults, domes or thelike, to be reenforced. These holes are disposed or alternated in aconvenient manner and are perforated one at a time or two, at theutmost, so as 60 to avoid the weakening of the existing masonry. Afterhaving introduced a joint in the hole prepared, same is accuratelyrefilled with cement mortar in order to re-establish perfectly the wallstructure before other holes are being drilled. 65 When the jointscorresponding to a single girder are inserted into the masonry, thegirder may be finished by connecting to the irons of the joints thelongitudinal irons of the flanks and embedding these irons in a layer ofconcrete or 70 cement mortar by means of boards which may be taken downafter a fortnight.

This gradual proceeding, if applied to the enlargement of oldfoundations in intermediate levels of middle depth, allows theconsolidation 75 tween the new beams and the old structure. separatingmaterial is afterwards withdrawn so as to allow a small free space whichis suflicient ofthe foundations of buildings without making it necessaryto touch or to lay open the masonry work of the existing foundation.

In the case of superelevation of buildings having an insuflicientthickness of walls, the new system may also be used. When applied to theexisting masonry, it allows, in the case of sufficiently solidfoundations or after a reenforcemerit of same, as described, or after asuffi cient foundation of the vertical beams of the reenforcingstructure, the execution of any superelevation as shown in Fig. 32,without any alteration to the old masonry. But the beams-in this case,must be made in a slightly different manner, that is to say, thecementation of the joints with the old masonry must be delayed until thebeams are finished and put under the new load.

This result is due to the particular form of the reenforcing structureaccording to the invention, which allows to make, at will, the newstructure independent from the old masonry work, so that after havingreached with the vertical struts the level of the old flat roof, andafter having connected to these the horizontal girders supporting thesuperelevation, this latter may be executed with the new or with any oldsystem, according to the scope to be reached.

The reenforcing structure may be advantageously applied also to masonrywalls to which must be fixed mechanical transmission means as it permitsthe supporting beams being entirely independent from the walls.

This can be realized by inserting during the construction thin metalsheets, or the like, be-

The

to prevent the propagation of the oscillations or of any other force.The same scope may be reached by'filling the free space between the newand the old structure with compressible material, such as cork, tar orother material, which may remain in the construction when the supportingstructure is finished without interfering with the requiredindependence.

The reenforcing structure has another advantageous application in theconsolidation of vaults (V in Fig. 23) or of domes (Fig. 24), consistingin the possibility of gradual execution as well as the various functionswhich may be attributed 1 to the girders in view of their form, theirreenforcement and their general disposition.

Another application of the system, similar to the application onfoundations, is for forming supporting arches or girders to protect orconserve delapidated Walls or to allow the making of great openings,without endangering the existing wall by deep recesses. (Fig. 35.)

During the execution of the restoring works, the consolidation offoundations, walls or vaults, or during the superelevation of abuilding, the rooms of this building may be used without interruption,as these works do not weaken the existing walls.

The reenforcing structure may also be used for the equal and continuousstrengthening of new or old walls, on their whole extent, as by areenforcing woof, applied in one direction only (Fig. 36), or in twodirections (Fig. 38), horizontally and vertically, or inclined. On thecrossing points may be placed the joints; whilst the flanks may becontinuous or discontinuous.

This special application of the reenforcing structure, according to theinvention, makes a wall adapted to resist to the highest strain actingperpendicularly to the wall, and for this reason the system may servealso for strengthening or for building new ceilings having girders inone direction or in two incrossing directions with continuous flanks.

In this case, the procedure adopted for the execution is different, theinferior girder being formed first, then the slabs are being placed,leaving free the space for the joints, in order to allow the joint ironsto be embedded in the mortar and to be connected afterwards with theirons of the superior flank, as it may be observed in the example givenby Fig. 37.

The advantage of reenforcing structures, according to the invention, maybe resumed as follows:

Possibility of application to any kind of building and to any part ofthe building, resistance against any kind of strain, possibility ofexecution without trouble or interruption of the use of the building,possibility to realize, at will, independence or interindependencebetween the reenforcing structure and the reenforced structure, economyof material due to the conservation of the structive functions and ofthe advantages of the normal masonry structure.

What I claim as my invention is:

l. A reenforcing structure for walls comprising a series of reenforcingjoints anchored in transverse. holes in the wall, each of said jointsincluding a body, longitudinally arranged reenforcing bars imbeddedtherein and having end portions extending freely beyond the ends of thebody, a plurality of bars arranged on opposite sides of the wall andacross. the ends of the joints and connected to the freely extending endportions of the bars, and cementitious flanks arranged about the lastmentioned bars and anchored to the surfaces of the walls.

2. A reenforcing structure as claimed in claim 1, wherein the joints andbars are constructed in the form of a cage.

3. In a reenforcing structure, a wall provided with a series oftransverse holes and with grooves on opposite sides communicating withthe holes, reenforcing joints anchored in the holes and each including abody, longitudinally arranged reenforcing bars anchored in the body andhaving end portions extending freely beyond the ends of the body andinto the grooves, a plurality of bars arranged on opposite sides of thewall and within the grooves and connected to the freely extended endportions of the reenforcing bars, and cementitious flanks arranged aboutthe last mentioned bars and anchored in the grooves.

4. A reenforcing structure as claimed in claim 3, wherein the wall isprovided with holes arranged in rows extending horizontally andvertically thereof and wherein the grooves also extend vertically andhorizontally in the wall.

PARIDE BUZZONI.

